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This is a collection of Fountain Pen Articles, Fountain Pen Histories and Fountain Pen Essays that have been published either online or in obscure books or jorunals. Things that I found while doing research on other pen topics and I thought were too good to be lost to obscurity and should be put online where a Google search could unearth them easily for the fountain pen enthusiast and fountain pen researcher.. If you know of an article that should be placed here, please let me know.
Feel free to use this information as you like, but I would appreciate a mention for the Kamakura pens site if you publish an article, or book with information gathered here. Recently, I have seen people publish pen articles exclusively from my archive with out any mention at all and that always breaks my heart.
Any Comments? Please send an e-mail to: rd@kamakurapens.com |
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New York Times, The | 1883-08-19
The Real Cause for Insanity.
There is no doubt that there has been a
marked increase of Insanity among all civilized
nations during tho last five years.
Usually this is accounted for—so far as any
attempt is made to account for it—by the
theory that the growth of competition in
every path of life compels men to exert
more and more activity and energy in order
to succeed. This explanation, however, is
a very unsatisfactory one. Hard work rarely
produces insanity. It is worry and not
work that breaks men down and fills our
Insane asylums.
It seems to have escaped notice that the
increase of insanity, concerning the cause of
which a satisfactory theory is sought, began
about the time of the introduction of
that ingenious instrument, the fountain pen.
The inconvenience of constantly dipping a
pen into an inkstand is, of course, an annoyance
to every writer, and a pen which would
supply its own ink has always been something
to be desired and hoped for. When,
therefore, the various inventors of the selffeeding
pens—if a mere wire can be called a
pen—began to advertise their wares the public
was only too anxious to buy and use
them.
No experienced physician can have any
donbt that these pens shorten the lives and
destroy the nervous systems of the men who
use them. Theoretically, a pen which has
always a large supply of ink in it and which
is always ready for instant use is an admirable
thing, but practically the pens to
which reference has been made nre maddening.
A man who has the misfortune
to own one. of these- pens sits down to
write a letter which must be written
without delay. He lakes his pen from his
pocket, and is^disgueted to find that it will not
write. He slaps It violently and knocks the
point of it fifty times against his paper, but
no ink makes its appearance. Thinking that
the ink is exhausted and the pen needs to be
refilled, he unscrews it, only to find it full ol
ink, which promptly diffuses itself over his
fingers, his clothing, and his paper.
After a brief but forcible expression ol
opinion as to the pen and its inventor the
man screws it together and resumes tbe slappin?
and knocking process. Still the ink
refuses to flow. Obviously the pen needs
to be washed out Accordingly the miserable
man once more unscrews the pen,
empties out the ink, and proceeds to wash
the exasperating invention. It is astonishing
how much ink remains in a pen after it is
supposed to ba empty. Tha man who
washes a pen and thereby stains bis bands
from the wrists downward, covers tbe wal
near the wash-basin with ink spots, and
ruins the towel, learns that no cnatter bow
empty a pen may be it can still cover acres
of wall, furnitnre, and human being with
ink.
When the pen is well washed it is refilled
with ink and the deluded owner sits down
to write. He finds that the pen will make
only a reluctant and feeble mark. Tbe
water adhering to the inside of the pen obstructs
the flow of ink. In these circum
stances nothing but persistent shaking and
slapping of the pen will do any good.
Usually It takes a pen half an hour to become
of any use after it is washed. As tbe
pen-victim has already used up at least
half an hour In trying to get bis pen to
write, he seldom, waits tbis additional
half-hour, but throws tbe pen aside
and writes bis letter with the first
available lead pencil. When, after two or
three weeks of pen-suffering, tbe sufferer
takes bis pen to the shop to be repaired, be
is told that it is not a good kind of pen, but
that another pen of precisely the same appearance,
but of a different name, is the
pen be should use. If he listens to this ad
vice he Is lost His new pen will always
be worse than bis old one, and whether he
clings to it or buys still another, be will
never again know the meaning of peace of
mind.
Here we have the explanation of tha recent
increase of insanity. One year's me of
a patent self-feeding pen will overthrow tbe
strongest intellect These pens have already
wrecked thousands of lives and broken up
happy homes without number, and though
the wicked work still goes on no physician
raises the cry of alarm.